The Rose Rent

The sleuthing monk unravels a thorny case of murder in this “accomplished whodunit meticulously wrought with a wealth of medieval detail” (Booklist). A late spring in 1142 brings dismay to the Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, for there may be no roses by June 22. On that day the young widow Perle must receive one white rose as rent for the house she has given to benefit the abbey, or the contract is void. When nature finally complies, a pious monk is sent to pay the rent—and is found murdered beside the hacked rosebush. The abbey’s wise herbalist, Brother Cadfael, follows the trail of bloodied petals. He knows the lovely widow’s dowry is far greater with her house included, and she will likely wed again. Before Cadfael can ponder if a greedy suitor has done this dreadful deed, another crime is committed. Now the good monk must thread his way through a tangle more tortuous than the widow’s thorny bushes.

The Tudor Era has dawned. Richard III lies in a shallow grave at Greyfriars in Leicester and Henry Tudor sits upon an uneasy throne. Richard's illegitimate daughter, Katherine Plantagenet, wife of one year to William Herbert, Earl of Huntingdon, struggles to find her path in the strange new world of Tudor England. Only fifteen years old, she fears her husband will put her aside due to her relationship to the deposed King. Frightened and alone, she recalls the events of her younger years, when Richard, Duke of Gloucester took her and her half-brother John to be raised at Sheriff Hutton Castle. Days when it seemed a baseborn girl could reach dizzying heights... Days of happiness before her father took the crown, before her cousins Edward and Richard vanished from the Tower of London, before beautiful Elizabeth of York danced in gold at the Christmas Feast of 1484 and started rumours flying...

A New York reporter, Toni Miracle, attends a rose festival in Pennsylvania's Amish country and stumbles on a series of murders, each of which is accompanied by a rose. As she investigates, the town's age old secrets emerge.

In honor of her husband, young, beautiful, and wealthy widow Judith Perle donates a house to the Abbey at Shrewsbury--for the annual rent of one white rose. Judith has no shortage of suitors, and if she remarries, her dowry would be all the greater if the house were returned due to non-payment of rent. So when a priest charged with delivering the rose is found murdered, and the rose bush is found hacked to pieces, Brother Cadfael finds he must root out a killer. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

Could a book by any other name smell as sweet? Absolutely not. The rose is the world’s favorite flower—and always has been. It is our greatest floral symbol of love and romance, and it is a bloom that touches our hearts as the flower most often chosen to celebrate significant milestones—weddings, anniversaries, births, and indeed, deaths. In this book, Catherine Horwood traces the botanical, religious, literary, and artistic journeys of the rose across the centuries, from battles to bridal bouquets. From Cleopatra’s rose petal–filled bed to Nijinsky’s Spectre de la Rose, from the highly prized Attar of Rose oil so beloved by the ancient Persians to the rosy scents of top perfume labels today, from Shakespearean myths about the War of the Roses to the significance of roses in Queen Elizabeth I’s embroidered dresses, and even to blockade-running during the Napoleonic Wars to satisfy Empress Josephine’s passion for collecting her favorite flower, Rose blossoms with the many stories of our ardor for this botanical family. Featuring a bower of illustrations and drawing on an array of sources as rich and many-hued as roses themselves, Horwood’s tale opens our eyes and noses to the world’s major rose-growing nations. With operatic tales of medieval bestsellers, nurserymen’s rivalries, and changing tastes in our personal flower beds, Rose is certain to woo both gardeners and non-gardeners alike.